Rotatable strobascopic toy

ABSTRACT

A strobascopic light source and a rotatable toy to create exciting optical illusions as to the toy&#39;&#39;s rotational or lateral motion. Light emitting diodes placed on the periphery of a resilient aerodynamic disc toy which is thrown from one player to another cooperate with a multivibrator type electronic drive circuit, to create an unusual strobascopic effect.

United States Patent 1191 Harrington May 28, 1974 1 ROTATABLESTROBASCOPIC TOY [76] Inventor: Richard H. Harrington, 313 N. 7th

St., Ann Arbor, Mich. 48103 [22] Filed: Aug. 21, 1972 211 App]. No.:282,392

[52] US. Cl. 46/228, 46/74 D, 273/106 B [51] Int. Cl A63h 33/26 [58]Field of Search 46/228, 74; 273/106 B [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 2,011,813 8/1935 Heekin 46/228 2,739,419 3/1956 Cleveland46/228 Rand 46/228 X 3,531,892 10/1970 Pearce 246/228 PrimaryExaminer-Louis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner-D. L. Weinhold Attorney,Agent, or Firm0lsen and Stephenson [57] ABSTRACT A strobascopic lightsource and a rotatable toy to create exciting optical illusions as tothe toys rotational or lateral motion. Light emitting diodes placed onthe periphery of a resilient aerodynamic disc toy which is thrown fromone player to another cooperate with a multivibrator type electronicdrive circuit, to create an unusual strobascopic effect.

1 Claim, 6 Drawing Figures ale-12.614

PATENTEDMM 28 mm IME-r REMWWYNU SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This inventionrelates in general to a novel application of a strobascopic light sourceto rotatable toys. This combination creates novel optical illusionsregarding the lateral and rotational movement of the toy and also allowsthe toy to be used at night. Specifically, this invention is applied toan aerodynamic inverted cupshaped disc which is thrown between two ormore players and commonly referred to as a Frisbee. The disc gains itsflight stability from rotational motion. This application involves theplacing of intermittent light emitting sources on or near the peripheryof the disc. The interval and duration of the light pulse is controlledby an adjustable electronic drive circuit.

It is an object of this invention to provide for the use of rotatabletoys, such as aerodynamic discs during the nighttime.

It is another object of this invention to create a number of opticalillusions regarding the lateral and rotational movement of a rotatabletoy. This will add an exciting new dimension to the sport.

Further objects, features and advantages of this invention will becomeapparent from a consideration of the following description, the appendedclaims, and the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the aerodynamic disc of this invention;

' FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view through the center of the discshowing the relative positions of the drive circuit and the lightemitting diodes;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of the edge of the disc showing theposition of the light emitting diodes;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the comet tail effect produced by thecombined effect of the rotational motion of the disc and thecurrent-time profile;

FIG. 5 is a graph illustration of the current time profile; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the electronic circuit which drives thelight emitting diodes in the apparatus of this invention.

Referring now to the drawings, the rotatable toy of this invention is ashallow inverted cup-shaped disc 10 (FIG. I) typically having a diameterof about eight inches, although this is not a critical dimension. Acommon example of this toy is manufactured by the Wham- O Corporation,and is marketed under the trademark FRISBEE'Such toys are thrown in freeflight between players who send the disc through any number of flightpatterns. I

The inverted cup-shaped disc 10 includes a circular body member llhaving a central recess 12 and a downturned peripheral flange 13. Theflange 13 provides the disc 10 with aerodynamic stability,and inaddition functions as the portion of the disc 10 which is gripped by aplayer in propelling the disc 10 through the air with an initial wristmotion that rotates the disc. Typically, the disc 10 spins fastest atthe beginning of the throw and then slows down gradually.

Two sets, or groups, of three light emitting diodes 14, a left side set17 and a right side set 19, are mounted in diametrically oppositeportions of the flange 13. The diodes are connected by leads 15 to adrive or control circuit 16, the major components of which are disposedin the recess 12. I

As shown in FIG. 3, the diodes 14 in each set are arranged in a lineararray of three, which is perpendicular to the plane of the body member11. The diodes are preferably gallium arsenide phosphide light emittingdiodes (L.E.D.) which emit photons at a wave length of 6700 Angstromunits (red), as a forward bias is applied, and places the P-N junctionin a conducting state. This provides a very intense point source light.

Green, amber, or any color L.E.D. could be used, and there could be onecolor on one side and a different color on the other.

The drive circuit 16 includes a voltage source 20, preferably a six tonine volts DC battery, a capacitor 21 in parallel with battery 20, and alinear integrated circuit 22. The circuit 22 performs a multivibratorfunction and is commercially available from Signetics, 811 Arques Ave.,Sunnyvale, California, as part number NE555V. The circuit 16 alsoincludes an on-off switch 24 and two resistors 26 and 28 connected inseries with a capacitor 30. The resistors 26 and 28 and the capacitor 30cooperate with the multivibrator-type circuit 22 to generate a currentwave form, and is applied to the two sets 17 and 19 of diodes 14. Thiswave form which is shown in FIG. 5, is comprised of positive andnegative spikes which peak at 34, and exponentially decay to zero.During the positive spikes, one set 19 of diodes will be turned on by aforward bias and will emit light; the other set 17 will be turned off bya reverse bias. As the current passes through zero at point 36 andbecomes negative, the emitting diodes 19 will be turned off by thereverse bias and the other set 17 will begin to emit in response to theforward bias.

The diodes 14 are connected to ground through a current limitingresistor 40. The resistor 28 is preferably, but does not have tobe,adjustable to enable adjustment of the blink rate 37. For this reason,resistor 28 is shown in the drawing as a potentiometer. Ina preferredembodiment of the invention the blink rate is about 22 H and in thisembodiment the resistors 26 and 28 have values of 10,000 ohms and 3.3megohms, respectively, and capacitor 30, has a capacitance of 0.01microfarads. The capacitor 21 is 25 microfarads, the capacitor 32 has acapacitance of 220 microfarads and the resistor 40 has a resistance of 5ohms. The blink rate of 22H is chosen because it has been found that theusual rate at which a thrown disc 10 spins is about 22 revolutions persecond. When first thrown, the disc spins faster than 22 r.p.s., midwayin its flight it is about this rate and at the end of the flight it isless.

When the thrown disc 10 is viewed in free flight by the thrower, theblinking diodes 14 appear to be very intense lights rotating slowly inone direction. When the rate of rotation of the disc 10 slows down toabout the 22 r,p.s. rate, the lights appear to move without rotation,and finally the lights appear to be rotating in the opposite direction.All of the above-describedvisual effects are due to the strobascopiceffects caused by adjusting the diode blink rate so that it isapproximately a whole number multiple of the disc rotation rate. Theresult is a very far out toy. It will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that the same result can be achieved by locating the diodes l4inwardly from the flange l3 and using fiber optics to transport lightimages to the flange l3. Also, more or less diodes 14 can be used ineach group 17 or 19 and the color can be varied.

What is claimed is:

1. A toy comprising a disc having a downturned peripheral flange andadapted to be propelled through the air in free flight and concurrentlyrotated during at least a portion of said flight at a predeterminedrate, light means in diametrically opposed portions of said flange,control circuit means mounted on said disc and connected to said lightmeans, said circuit means being operable to turn said light means offand on at a frequency which is approximately a whole number multiple ofsaid rate to thereby produce a strobascopic effect for a viewer of saiddisc during free flight thereof, said sion of a comet-type lightpattern.

1. A toy comprising a disc having a downturned peripheral flange andadapted to be propelled through the air in free flight and concurrentlyrotated during at least a portion of said flight at a predeterminedrate, light means in diametrically opposed portions of said flange,control circuit means mounted on said Disc and connected to said lightmeans, said circuit means being operable to turn said light means offand on at a frequency which is approximately a whole number multiple ofsaid rate to thereby produce a strobascopic effect for a viewer of saiddisc during free flight thereof, said control circuit means includingmeans for generating light pulses spaced apart at time intervals, andmeans determining said time intervals, said control circuit meansproviding for a voltage-time relationship for each diode in which thevoltage falls off exponentially from a peak so that the light from eachdiode appears to go out quickly concurrently with rotation of the lightduring free flight of the disc to thereby give the impression of acomet-type light pattern.